Phillies Sign Aaron Heilman

The Phillies have signed Aaron Heilman to a minor league deal, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (on Twitter). He will report to Triple-A.

Arizona released the 32-year-old Heilman earlier this week after he'd posted a 6.88 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 38.5% ground ball rate in 35 1/3 innings of work this year. Bad luck may have contributed to an ugly ERA that was twice Heilman's xFIP of 3.44. He allowed a career-high .360 batting average on balls in play and a career-high 20% of fly balls against him left the yard. His average fastball velocity dipped from 92.3 mph in 2010 to 90.6 mph in 2011.